Cops: Boy's death from drinking liquid nicotine was accident; toddler died last December

FORT PLAIN, N.Y. – Authorities say an upstate New York toddler's death last year from drinking liquid nicotine was an accident.

The Times Union of Albany reports (http://bit.ly/1DB69HE ) the police investigation into Eli James Hotaling's death has been closed. The newspaper says it was the first case of a child dying after accidentally swallowing the toxic ingredient used to refill electronic cigarettes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Police say the boy was being watched last Dec. 9 by his mother and another adult at his family's home in the Montgomery County village of Fort Plain. Police say the mother's sister didn't know the boy was going to be at the house that day and left an uncapped bottle of liquid nicotine on a low table.

Police say when the adults were busy looking for something, the boy drank the solution. He later was pronounced dead at Little Falls Hospital.

Authorities say he died from nicotine ingestion, which caused cardiac arrhythmia.